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NavSource Online: Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

DeKalb (ID 3010)

Navy call sign:
George - Rush - Quack - Jig

Mount Clay call sign (1926):
Mike - Boy - Fox - Have

Mackensen Class Battlecruiser/Transport:

Built in 1901 as Prinz Eitel Friedrich by Vulcan Co., Stettin, Germany

Launched 18 June 1901

Acquired by the Navy in April 1917

Renamed DeKalb 12 May 1917 and commissioned USS DeKalb (ID 3010) the same day

Decommissioned 22 September 1919

Transferred to the United States Shipping Board 23 September 1919

Sold in 1920 to the United American Lines and renamed Mount Clay

Laid up in 1925

Registered in 1926 to the American Ship and Commerce Navigation Corp. (NY) of New York, NY

Sold in 1928 to the Pacific Steamship Co. of San Francisco, CA

Scrapped in 1934.

Specifications:

Displacement 14,180 t.

1926 - 8,170 t.

Length 506' 6"

1926 - 488.3'

Beam 55' 6"

Draft 26'

1926 - 22.5'

Speed 16.5 kts.

Complement 534

1926 - 200

Armament: Eight 5"/51 mounts, four 3"/50 mounts, two 3"/50 AA mounts, four 1-pounders and two machine guns

Propulsion: Two double-ended and two single-ended boilers, two 3.500ihp verticle quadruple-expansion steam engines, two shafts.

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description	Source
SS Prinz Eitel Friedrich
	28k	Namesake: *Prinz Eitel Friedrich von Preußen* was the second son of the Prussian King and German Emperor Wilhelm II and his wife Empress Auguste Viktoria	Joe Radigan Photo added 20 July 2021
	89k	c. 1915 Port bow and port quarter views Library of Congress photos LC-DIG-hec-05587 and LC-DIG-hec-05594 from the Harris and Ewing collection	Tom Kerman
	105k		Tom Kerman
	116k	c. 1915 Port quarter view of SS Prinz Eitel Friedrich Library of Congress photo LC-B2-3407-4	Mike Green
	110k	Prinz Eitel Friedrich, being assisted to a dry dock, circa 1915 Library of Congress photo LC-H261- 4995
	105k	c. 1915 Library of Congress photo LC-H261- 5007
	252k	c. 1917 Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA Kronprinz Wilhelm moored outboard of Prinz Eitel Friedrich interned at Portsmouth Navy Yard prior to moving to Philadelphia Photo from the Norfolk, Va Public Library website	Mike Mohl
	110k	Kronprinz Wilhelm and Prinz Eitel Friedrich (left) interned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 26 March 1917, shortly before they were seized by the United States. They are still flying the German flag, and German guns are visible on Prinz Eitel Friedrich's stern. During 1917-19, these ships respectively served as USS Von Steuben (ID 3017) and USS DeKalb (ID 3010) U.S. Navy photo NH 42416	Naval Historical Center
	104k	Prinz Eitel Friedrich and Kronprinz Wilhelm (left) interned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 26 March 1917, shortly before they were seized by the United States. Photographed from on board USS Salem U.S. Navy photo NH 42417
	96k	Prinz Eitel Friedrich and Kronprinz Wilhelm (left) interned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, prior to the U.S. entry into World War I. They are still flying German flags. Note U.S. Navy target raft at right Courtesy of Paul H. Silverstone, 1983 U.S. Navy photo NH 94986
	91k	Kronprinz Wilhelm interned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 26 March 1917, shortly before she was seized by the United States. Visible on her opposite side are the masts and funnels of the interned liner Prinz Eitel Friedrich Photographed by Replogle U.S. Navy Photo NH 42420
	118k	Prinz Eitel Friedrich interned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 28 March 1917. Behind her is the liner Kronprinz Wilhelm. U.S. Navy Photo NH 54659
	122k	Prinz Eitel Friedrich. Sailors pose with empty beer barrels removed from the ship's hold, 20 April 1917, soon after she was seized by the United States. U.S. Navy Photo NH 54657
	135k	Prinz Eitel Friedrich. Sailors on the pier at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, with items removed from the ship's hold, 20 April 1917, soon after she was seized by the United States. Empty wine bottles are specifically identified, in left center. U.S. Navy Photo NH 54658
USS DeKalb (ID 3010)
	45k	Namesake: *Johann von Robais, Baron de Kalb* (June 19, 1721 – August 19, 1780), born Johann Kalb, was a Franconian-French military officer who served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and was mortally wounded while fighting the British Army during the Battle of Camden.	Joe Radigan Photo added 20 July 2021
	67k	Moored at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 11 June 1917, the day before she sailed to transport U.S. troops to the European war zone. U.S. Navy Photo NH 54654	Naval Historical Center
	106k	Taking U.S. Marines on board for transportation to Europe, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 6:00 A.M., 12 June 1917 U.S. Navy Photo NH 54652
	86k	Leaving the pier at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 6:09 A.M., 12 June 1917, en route to the European war zone with U.S. troops on board U.S. Navy Photo NH 54653
	113k	Tied up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, after returning from France, 1917. Note sign on the lamp post in the foreground, marking the intersection of 2nd Street West and Preble Avenue U.S. Navy Photo NH 54655
	133k	Tied up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 18 February 1918. Note her camouflage scheme, ice in the Delaware River, and battleships in the left background U.S. Navy Photo NH 54662
	99k	Underway, circa 1918, probably in New York Harbor. Note the pattern camouflage she wore during the latter part of World War I Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1969 U.S. Navy Photo NH 68750
	37k	In port, circa 1917-1919, with U.S. battleships in the background U.S. Navy Photo NH 100562
	89k	In port, with a small tug alongside, 1919 Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007 Naval Historical Center photo NH 105165	Robert Hurst
	73k	5 January 1919 Brest, France U.S. Army Signal Corps photo 54197 from the Imperial War Museum (Photo © IWM(Q 58257), American First World War Official Exchange Collection	Mike Green
SS DeKalb
	96k	In the Hudson River near Sputtan Duyvill Creek, on 16 December 1919, after she had been damaged by fire. The fire broke out while the ship was lying ready to be converted to an oil burner for the South American trade. Her skeleton crew of 35 men was removed safely and the vessel beached U.S. Navy Photo NH 54663	Naval Historical Center
SS Mount Clay
	59k	Namesake: *Mount Clay* is a peak located in Thompson and Meserve's Purchase in Coos County in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It is a rise about 0.9-mile (1.4 km) long and a few hundred feet tall, with summit elevation of 5,533 feet (1,686 m); it lies on the ridge joining the summits of Mount Washington, about 0.9-mile (1.4 km) to the south-southeast, with that of Mount Jefferson, about 1.3-mile (2.1 km) north	Joe Radigan Photo added 20 July 2021
	289k	Undated postcard	Tommy Trampp

Commanding Officers
01	CDR Walter Rockwell Gherardi, USN - USNA Class of 1895 Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral	12 May 1917
02	CAPT Luther Martin Overstreet, USN - USNA Class of 1897 Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral	1918
03	CAPT Chauncey Shackford, USN - USNA Class of 1899 Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Captain	1918
04	CAPT Edwin H. Dodd, USN - USNA Class of 1900 Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Captain	1918 - 1919

Courtesy Joe Radigan and Bill Gonyo

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History:

DeKalb

General Baron DeKalb was born in Huittendorf, Bavaria, Germany in 1721. In 1768 he visited the American colonies on a secret mission for the French government, and on the outbreak of the Revolution volunteered his services to the Americans. Given the rank of Major General by Congress, 15 September 1777, he served at Camden, S.C., with General Gates, and gave distinguished aid to the American cause before being mortally wounded while fighting at the head of his troops 16 August 1780. He died 3 days later.

DeKalb (No. 3010), a transport, was launched 18 June 1901 by Vulcan Co., Stettin, Germany, as Prinz Eitel Friedrich. She put in to Norfolk 11 March 1915 for repairs, and failing to leave in the time prescribed by international law was interned in April and moved to Philadelphia. When the United States entered World War I, she was seized by Customs officials and transferred to the Navy. Reconditioned and refitted as a troop transport, she was renamed DeKalb, and commissioned 12 May 1917, Commander W. R. Gherardi in command.

DeKalb was assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force, Atlantic Fleet, and on 14 June 1917 sailed in the convoy carrying the first troops of the American Expeditionary Forces to France. In the next 18 months DeKalb made 11 such voyages, carrying 11,334 soldiers safely. With the end of the war, she continued her transport duty returning 20,332 troops from Europe in eight voyages. On 6 September 1919 she was turned over to the Commandant, 3d Naval district. She was decommissioned 22 September 1919 and returned to the Shipping Board for disposal the following day.

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